Tutti Dolomiti Stage 5, Wow!

Canazei to Cortina d’Ampezzo via the Sellaronda

Strava: 93.54 km, 2,800m, 5:46, 234 shifts, max speed 71.2 kph

What a day! Even with a slightly scary afternoon weather forecast, a number of us split off from the official route half way up the Passo Pordoi, about 6 km into the ride. Instead, we climbed the Passo Sella, named for the famous group of mountains here called Gruppa di Sella. The famous circuit around them is called the Sellaronda. You can ski it in the winter or bike it in the summer. The bike loop is something like 53 km with 1,600m of climbing. There are no flat parts.

The views as we climbed were always changing and from the top it was incredible. There was a little terrace were we sat in the sun and added clothes for the descent. Down the back side was relatively short and we stopped at the bottom to strip down for climbing again. I heard a pumping noise passing behind me VERY fast and wondered what it was. I turned to see 8-10 riders from the Bahrain Victorious Development Team, out for practice. They hammered SO damn fast it was unbelievable. As we climbed Passo di Gardena, several of their guys were doing circles around us, doing some exercises or something.

This second pass was similar to Passo Sella in gradient but shorter. Soon we were on the summit with awesome views all around. Again, layers added, again a fast, smooth descent, a little longer. Then we climbed the third pass, Passo di Campolongo. Again, not too steep, but consistent.

As we descended Passo di Campolongo, the clouds got darker and it rained a little, but stopped right when Nick had a flat. We had just started fixing it when Dion drove up in the van. It was very convenient to have a real bike pump!

Lunch was just a few km ahead, at the most gorgeous spot ever, and when we arrived around 14:30, it was sunny and warm. Ben was so patient to wait for those of us who added quite a bit of extra time by riding the Sellaronda and stopping so much for the view.

Finally we had to go and then the real fun (sarcasm) started. The climb up Passo di Giau was another one like Passo Fedaia, long and very steep. We made it maybe a third of the way before I had to use my “emergency gear”, 44×50, but then I used it for a lot of the remaining climb. Half way up it started to rain, light at first, but then with more determination. We could not go fast because the grade was so steep so it seemed like we were doomed to just be soaked for a very long time. It hailed a little too. But after a couple of km, we spied a big blue hole in the clouds, and sure enough, soon the sun was out and then the rain stopped. Mountain weather. We summited in sun, quite warm. The view was awesome and we were SO happy to have made the last climb of the day.

The descent to Cortina d’Ampezzo was only 16 km, but we had to take it a little slow with the wet pavement. The temperature warmed as we dropped but with my wet clothes I just got colder. It was pleasant down in town, and we quickly stashed our bikes in the garage. We had arrived just before 5pm, a full day at the office. Strava said the ride duration was 8 hours and 9 seconds. Mike took a shower first and when I went in the bathroom and felt the heat in the air, it was amazing. Then I got in the water and realized again that hot showers are probably at the top of the list of benefits of modern life. After washing my hair I thought, “I wonder if I could stand it even hotter”, so I cranked it and I could. AWESOME! This is a pretty amazing life. The Dolomites of Italy are a cyclist’s dream.

There was no organized Bike Dreams dinner tonight so at some point when we got hungry I found a highly rated pizzeria but we peeked in at the hotel restaurant and at the menu and decided to eat there. We had a great dinner, with appetizer and desserts. Mike has caught my cold 😞 so is off alcohol but I had a nice unfiltered Dolomites beer. We had a walk around town after dinner, then retired before 21:00. A long, deep sleep is required tonight. Tomorrow, Tre Cime di Lavaredo beckons, a hell of a climb, I know from doing it in 2023.